i.Avis] INSTRUCTION IN AGRICULTURE 3 



6. To what extent have farm animals been used in teaching, i. e., actual 

 study of the animals themselves. 



7. How did you manage this animal study? 



8. How much experimental work on school grounds or in building 

 have you done? 



9. How was this experimental work managed ? 



10. To what extent have you made use of borrowed apparatus such as 

 farm machinery, scales, milk-testers, etc. ? 



11. To what extent has the work in agriculture been a practical suc- 

 cess judged by application at home, and in approval of patrons? 



12. In what ways has agriculture been correlated with other school 

 subjects? 



13. Has it helped instruction in these subjects? 



14. Mention some difficulties you have met with in the teaching of 

 agriculture. 



15. What has been your guide in selection of topics or units for in- 

 struction, i. e., teachers' manual, textbook, community interests, etc. 



16. Will you suggest on back of this sheet some things that should be 

 included in a course of and study that would be most helpful to a teacher? 



It will be seen that the questions submitted cover six factors 

 which should be taken into consideration in planning a course 

 of study intended to help standardize instruction in agriculture 

 in rural elementary schools. These factors are as follows : 

 (1) Subject matter (1-3) ; (2) ways and means (4-10) ; (3) re- 

 action on the community (11) ; (4) relation to other school sub- 

 jects (12-13); (5) difficulties (14); (6) basis of selection of 

 topics now being taught > (15). 



One hundred and seventy-two replies were received. Most 

 of them were very complete, often accompanied by much addi- 

 tional information. They showed interest and experience, and a 

 faith in the possibilities of agriculture as a rural school subject. 

 Thirty states were represented, including all sections of the coun- 

 try from Maine to California, from Minnesota to Texas. 



I shall attempt in this paper to give a brief summary of the 

 data obtained, and to present representative comments selected 

 from responses to the questionaire. 



Elementary instruction in agriculture is given in two ways, 

 one in which the whole subject is covered, the other in which 

 only certain phases or units are considered. It is desirable to 

 determine which of these ways is the better; especially if any 

 attempt to standardize instruction is to be made. The first two 

 questions were meant to secure an expression from teachers on 

 this point. Of the one hundred and fifty-five answers to these 

 questions fifty-seven favored covering the entire subject, while 

 ninety-eight preferred to confine instruction to certain units. 



